Home > Sessions: US Sending Assistant US Attys to Mexican Border to Prosecute Illegals

Sessions: US Sending Assistant US Attys to Mexican Border to Prosecute Illegals

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(CNSNews.com) - Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Wednesday that the Justice Department is sending 35 assistant U.S. attorneys to the U.S.-Mexico border to prosecute illegals entering the country.

In addition to that, 18 immigration judges will be sent to the border to act in a supervisory capacity to move cases along, Sessions said.

“We are announcing today that we are adding 35 assistant United States attorneys to the border to prosecute illegal entries into our country. We’re also announcing that we are moving 16 or 18 actually immigration judges to the border. These are supervisory judges that don’t have existing caseloads and will be able to function full-time on moving these cases,” he said.

“That will be about a 50 percent increase in the number of immigration judges who’ll be handling the asylum claims,” Sessions added.

The attorney general said the administration will not allow the United States to be “overwhelmed.”

“People are not going to caravan or otherwise stampede our border. We need legality and integrity in the system. People should wait their turn, ask to apply lawfully before they enter our country,” Sessions said. “We’re sending a message worldwide: don’t come illegally. Make your claim to enter America in the lawful way and wait your turn.”

“In terms of the people who are here now, is there a place though for a humanitarian concern?” a reporter asked.

“So we’re treating people fine. The question is if you don’t want to have to go through those problems, don’t come unlawfully. It’s not my problem. It’s not the United States Border Patrol’s problem when people try to force their way into the country unlawfully,” he said.

Sessions said the number of illegal border crossers have gone up as the summer approaches, and the administration wants to send the message to the world, especially those in Mexico and Central America, that the United States has a “generous legal system for immigration,” admitting “1.1 million people lawfully each year” and people should “wait their turn.”